3-039-442 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Infant Bacchus, 1st century A.D. Additional Info: The wreath of ivy leaves and berries encircling this chubby toddler’s head identify him as the wine god Bacchus (previously identified as Cupid). The son of Jupiter and the mortal woman Semele, Bacchus was raised by nymphs in a mountain cave in the mythical land of Nysa. The objects he may have been carrying in his outstretched hands are now missing, but he probably once held a drinking cup. The young god wears a leafy wreath entwined with a fillet, or ribbon, the copper ends of which fall over his shoulders. The hollowed-out irises of his eyes would have been inlaid with colored stone or glass and the whites covered in silver.